Ross Barkley has been in excellent form for Everton this season.
Photograph: BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

Everton will look to secure Ross Barkley on a new long-term contract this summer, with Roberto Martínez admitting he wants to build his team around the gifted midfielder.

Barkley will have two years remaining on his current £60,000-a-week deal at the end of the season and, as with the four-year contract he signed in 2014, Everton hope to reward the 22-year-old’s progress with improved terms.

Manchester City are one of several Premier League clubs to have shown interest in the England international in the past but Martínez insists Barkley is central to his plans for the club, and that the boyhood Evertonian wants that role at Goodison Park.

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The Everton manager said: “We will probably look at it in the summer. As I’ve said before, Ross is not a young man any more. He’s a player you can build a project on. When you want to build a project it is about a player who wants to play for Everton and wants to take that role. It is one thing as a manager wanting to do something, if the player doesn’t feel the same way then you cannot do it.

“But at the moment we have to concentrate on what we can achieve from now until the end of the season. What you are going to do in the final 12 games of the season will allow you to have a real strong ending, and that’s where the focus is. The FA Cup is another real strong focus for us, and the role of Ross Barkley will be vital to what we can achieve.”

Martínez revealed Barkley is not the only player lined up for a new contract at Everton, with the club having an option to extend Bryan Oviedo’s deal and Muhamed Besic due a pay rise after making over 25 Premier League appearances. “We look at every player’s situation,” he explained.

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“We’ve got Bryan Oviedo who is out of contract in the summer but we have an option and we would like to do something before then. Mo Besic has triggered a clause which means we need to look into his contract. Those are the ones that are most imminent and everyone else we will look into in the summer.”

Barkley has made significant strides operating in the No10 role at Everton this season, with his two penalties against Newcastle United on Wednesday taking the midfielder to 11 goals in 31 games. His manager believes improved confidence, decision-making and increased responsibility have contributed to the 22-year-old’s improvement.

Martínez added: “I’ve just seen a big difference this season in Ross. Before it was all about trying to give him information and make him a type of a player. This season has been very different because he’s the one who wants clarifications and is asking for the information he needs. It shows he has the confidence he needs.

“There was an action against Newcastle when he tracked Andros Townsend back all the way, and won the ball back. That wasn’t his role. But in the same way that’s the decision making we are working on. He sensed danger and reacted, and it means he has developed from a young lad who only does what you tell him into someone who knows what he has to do, and wants help in knowing what is expected in those situations. That’s a big difference. When you do that it is because you are an experienced player who says ’I know what I am and how important I am for the team’.

“He has 11 goals but also creates a lot of chances for others, sometimes by not even touching the ball. He creates chances because teams are using one and two players constantly to try to stop him. His influence is huge and he’s going to have a different test week by week. Sometimes man marking, sometimes two players to stop him and that’s the test he will have until the end of the season.”